Contents

Purpose

Developers and program debuggers need to get logged information from a user's Thunderbird instance via email or uploaded file to bugzilla. The desired interface enables any user to a) turn on MailNews:Logging mailnews logging and b) send their logs to the proper location. MailNews:Logging#Logging_Tools has some workarounds.

Concerns

Our interactions require a restart into logging mode and the next restart would take the user out of that mode

The log directory should probably be made available even while logging is disabled

Current preferences interface always displays the location of the log directory and allows for it to be changed

Some indication of logging mode should be used to indicate why Thunderbird is behaving differently

Current preferences mockups do not do a good job of this and the main interface requires some kind of indication

Questions

Do we notify someone if they change logging levels and do not restart thunderbird?

Only while in logging mode?

How do we display the fact that we are in logging mode in the main mail interface?

Assumption that this is necessary because we don't want people to forget and continue using thunerbird in logging mode beyond the task it's called for

How do we better show status of logging mode in the Preferences UI?

The current ON / off in the title is pretty lame, but I'm a little tired right now

Common Use Cases

Here are some common use cases with steps taken by each party involved.

Reproduce Problem

User has problems with Thunderbird

Developer or IT person instructs user how to turn on logging

User turns on logging

Set logging modules and levels?? (I doubt this is worthwhile -- many users won't know enough to be smart here --davida)

restart required

User attempts to reproduce problem

User could :

forward it to their local IT person via email

attach log file to a bug

read the debug information (developers especially)

User turns off logging

restart required

should offer to delete logs?

Possible Improvements

Could automate the uploading of information in a similar way to Breakpad

Complicated and might ignore the local IT person case

Preferences for

logging levels

modules

logging directory

Button to open log directory in Finder/Explorer

Remove thunderbird restart requirement

Options

Options that are important for proper usage and are going to be changed by the majority of users should be in the main interface so they are obvious and easily changed. Other options should be in a preferences menu or scuttled away in the about:config.

Mockups

These are the mockups for the various pages required to make this interaction a reality.

Preferences

Since there are only a few protocols I flattened them all out of their combobox into a list where enabling them is done by setting the log level above zero. Initially all levels will be at zero and users would be expected to set the log level to something before restarting TB into logging mode. The assumption is that the developer would tell the person exactly which ones to turn on and to what levels. However many developers have said that no one really uses the alternate levels, it is really just an on or off from 0 to 5.

Debug Logging Preference (off)

Debug Logging Preference (on)

Mail Interface

The mail interface requires some kind of indication that the user is running in logging mode (not completed yet). We also have a nice way for people to mail their log files off, however this extra menu item would only be present during logging mode so it might not be that useful as much as it's nice.